The end of the “The Idiot’s Lantern” episode of Doctor Who, which I saw yesterday night in BBC Prime (broadcast as channel 30 in Israeli cable TV), shows Tommy forgiving Eddie, his abusive father, after Eddie was thrown out of home by Rita, his wife and Tommy’s mother.
Since this scene has the psychological effect of weakening the resolve of domestic abuse victims, I wonder whether someone in the Doctor Who production team is himself an abusive husband/father, who did not have an interest in lending moral support to abuse victims, who at last decide to do something about their situation.
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Author: Omer Zak
I am deaf since birth. I played with big computers which eat punched cards and spew out printouts since age 12. Ever since they became available, I work and play with desktop size computers which eat keyboard keypresses and spew out display pixels.
Among other things, I developed software which helped the deaf in Israel use the telephone network, by means of home computers equipped with modems. Several years later, I developed Hebrew localizations for some cellular phones, which helped the deaf in Israel utilize the cellular phone networks.
I am interested in entrepreneurship, Science Fiction and making the world more accessible to people with disabilities.
View all posts by Omer Zak
I disagree. Dr Who does not pretend to be a social commentary about emotive issues – it is merely well-written good science fiction stories – to be taken on face value. You are reading WAY too much into it and over-egging the pudding.
Eddie Connelly was depicted as a verbal abuser.
The proper time for forgiving an abusive father is not immediately after the father is thrown out of the house, but after some time. This time-out is needed to let the abuse victims heal themselves and build up self-confidence, self-esteem, determination and courage.
It is more likely that in the future, Tommy will regret more having forgiven his father so quickly than he’d regret not forgiving his father.
When/where in the episode was Eddie Connelly shown to physically abuse his family? Nowhere, if I remember rightly. The whole point of The Idiot’s Lantern was that none of the humans were actually bad guys, only traumatised by the war and the incoming change. Rose reminds Tommy that he is still Tommy’s father, and to go after him, he’ll regret not doing so. She is right. Hanging onto hate leads to pain, a cancer of the soul.
As for your speculation about the production team, I find this completely laughable. This was simply a well-written and well-acted story and you are reading FAR too much into it by wondering if someone on the production team is an abusive husband and father. As far as I am aware, an abuser likes to keep his abuse hidden as a shameful secret – not publicise it in a well-watched TV episode under a thinly disguised story !